In the age of Louis XIV France reached a cultural highpoint in literature, theatre, music and art. Jean-Baptiste Lully made a significant contribution to this in various genres of musical theatre - ballet de cour, comédie-ballet, tragédie en musique, pastorale.

The tragédie en musique was rich in instrumental movements (overtures, symphonies, preludes, dances, airs de vitesse, chaconne and passacaille, marches, rondeaus, descriptive passages – e.g. scenes of battle, the Furies or slumber, and...